Beater for plaiting and braiding machines.



A. SCHUMACHER. BBATEB, FOR PLAITING AND BRAIDING MACHINES.

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NORRIS PETERS c0. PNOTO LITHOH WASHING ION, D. c.

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AUGUST SCHUMACHER, OF BARMEN, GERMANY, ASSIGNOR TO THE FIRM OF ALB. & E. HENKELS, OF LANGERFELD, NEAR BARMEN, GERMANY.

'Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 23, 191.5.

Application filed May 20, 1913. Serial No. 768,753.

TaaZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Aneus'r SCI-IUMACHER, citizen of the German Empire, residing at Barinen in the Province of Rhenish Prussia, Germany, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Beaters for Plaiting and Braiding Machines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to an improved beater for plaiting and braiding machines which serves the usual purpose of beating the various threads of the fabric at the points at which they cross or interlace with each other; and the invention has for its object to enable the thicknening of the fabric at certain points, for thepurposing of producing what are known as spots or similar effects in the substance of the plaited fabric to be efiected by the use of a small number of threads and bobbins, and yet to make them as wide as may be desired. In accordance with the present invention this is effected by considerably broadening the effective beating surface of some of the beater needles which hitherto have always been constructed after the manner of a knife blade. By this means the intersections of the threads in question are beaten over a greater breadth and a much broader spot can consequently be produced than when heaters of the kind heretofore usual are employed. The broadening of the effective heating surface of certain needles can be effected in a very simple manner by placing a shoe of suitable shape on the beating end of the needle; and in order to provide the necessary space the adjacent beating needles which act on the same spot of the fabric are somewhat bent aside and are not provided with shoes nor correspondingly broadened at their ends. By this means the desired effect is obtained with the greater certainty since the intersections of the thread beaten by these needles are kept farther apart with the result that the spot itself will be of correspondingly increased breadth.

The accompanying drawings illustrate two alternative constructions for carrying out the invention; wherein Figure 1 is a vertical section through a heater in accordance with the first of these constructions; Fig. 2 shows the striking end of one of its needles; Fig. 3 diagrammatically illustrates the arrangement and operation of the needles in accordance with Fig.

2, Fig. i in like manner illustrates the modified construction already referred to and Fig. 5 represents a cross section through Fig. 3 on the line 5-5.

Referring now to the drawings, the needles a of the beater are arranged in a circle or crown and mounted in the usual manner to oscillate around a pin 6, the construction of the beater shown in the drawings being otherwise that usually adapted for a lacebraiding machine in which there is one bobbin for each plate. The beater needles or are divided in the usual manner into two groups, each of which is provided with separate actuating mechanism, comprising link connections 0, d and reciprocating collars f, of which only one is shown. By these means the needles are alternately moved forward toward the plaiting point for the purpose of pushing the intersections of the threads 9 toward the plaiting point. The movements of the beating needles are so regulated that the return movement of the one group of needles does not begin until the beating of the other group has taken place, with the result that the one set of thread intersections is firmly held until the adjacent set of intersections has also been beaten.

The effective beating surface of each of the needles a; is in accordance with this in vention, broadened to a considerable extent by means of a shoe h, detachably screwed to the beating end of the needle by means of a screw 2', the shoe 7L being preferably made of aluminum or some other light metal for the purpose of as far as possible reducing the moment of inertia of the oscillating needle. By thus broadening the heating surface the thread connections are beaten over a greater breadth and are retained in their positions with the result that they can not be so closely drawn together as when the beater needles are of the narrow small knife-blade type heretofore usual. The two adjacent beating needles which act on the same spot as indicated in Fig. 2 by lines formed by dots and dashes, are somewhat bent aside, both to provide the necessary space for the broadened striking surface it of the needle a, and also, as shown on an enlarged scale in Fig. 3, to hold the lateral crossing places of the threads is farther apart and by this means to facilitate the object aimed at, that is to say, the production of a broader spot. As will be seen it becomes practicable by this means to produce by the use of only four threads a spot of comparatively great breadth. A special advantage of the detachable shoe consists in the fact that it may be attached to one or more beater needles at any desired point, as may be required by the pattern to be produced. The beating needles which are bent aside as above are not provided with the shoes as described and thereby leave ample space for the action of the intervening needles provided with shoes.

The broadening of the beating surface acting on an intersection of the threads may in some cases be effected otherwise than by means of a shoe, as for instance, by connecting two adjacent beating needles with the same part f of the actuating mechanism, with the result that, as shown in Fig. 4, they act simultaneously on the same intersection of'the threads. The two central needles 0;, a, in this case act simultaneously on the same central intersection of the threads as though they were really only a single needle, while the two lateral needles a a belong to a second group and while acting simultaneously as far as they themselves are con-- cerned, cooperate alternately with the central needles a, a. As will be obvious from the drawings this arrangement has the same effect as that illustrated in Fig. 3.

What I claim is 1. In combination with crown piece and core of a braiding or plaiting machine, beater needles in the form of thin blades pivoted on said crown piece vertically in circular arrangement for closing on said core and beating the threadstoward the plaiting point, said needles consisting of two series, the members of which are arranged alternately and operate alternately, and two sets of mechanism for operating said series independently, the needles of one series being adapted at each point of impact to act on the threads over a broader space than would be possible to a single blade form beater of normal width throughout its length and the proximate beater needles of the other series being shaped and bent to allow freedom of movement to the needles of the first series in the beating action above stated.

2. A beater for plaiting and braiding machines comprising a crown and a number of needles pivoted in circular arrangement for action in a plane at right angles to that of the crown, these needles being divided into two series provided with means for independently operating them, the needles of one series being broadened in their beating ends and the needles of the other series being without such broadening and adapted to leave space for the operation of such broadened parts, though in proximity thereto.

3. In combination with pivoted beater needles circularly arranged to act on a common center and some of which are provided with enlarged detachable shoes on their operating ends, mechanism for actuating the heaters provided with such shoes and mechanism for actuating the beater needles which are not thus provided.

4. A crown beater for plaiting and braiding machines, provided with blade form beater needles mounted in a circle for action in vertical planes, the beating surfaces of some of these needles being broadened to a considerable extent, in order that when leaves or similar effects are to be produced in the interior of the fabric a broader pattern may be obtainable by the use of but a few threads.

5. A crown beater for plaiting and braiding machines, provided with pivoted beater needles, some of which have their beating surfaces considerably broadened, the needles in proximity to each needle thus constructed being bent aside and left without such broadening to provide the requisite space for the action of the broadened needles and increase the breadth of the pattern.

6. A crown beater for plaiting and braiding machines provided with a number of pivoted beater needles, some of which have detachable shoes on their operating ends, the other needles being in proximity to these thus provided.

7. A beater needle having its operating end provided with a broadened removable shoe of aluminum.

8. In a plaiting or braiding machine, a beater comprising two series of beating needles having faces adapted to beat plait or braid, the needles of these two series being alternately arranged, the beating faces of one series being broader than those of the other, and the needles of the latter series being laterally bent at their ends to provide room for said broadened beating surfaces, in combination with independent devices for actuating these two series of needles alternately.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

AUGUST SCHUMACHER. [L- 8.]

Witnesses HELEN NUFER, ALBERT NUFER.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of .Eatents,

Washington, D. C. 

